21 December 2006
BIC's December 21, 2006 IF-Eye newsletter spotlights recent civil society and international financial institution news.
Issue 11: December 21, 2006
A publication of the Bank Information Center
In this issue:
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IFI Updates
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Civil Society Highlights
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Announcements and Resources
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New at BIC
Wolfowitz appoints new Senior Vice President of External Affairs, Communications and United Nations Affairs. World Bank. December 20, 2006. Marwan Muasher, a Jordanian national, joins the World Bank from his most recent position at the Senate of Jordan. He has previously served as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Jordan, and as the Jordanian Ambassador to the United States. Muasher will assume his position in March 2007, replacing Kevin Kellems who has been serving as Acting VP since January 2006, following Ian Goldin’s departure in 2005.
Governance and Anticorruption Strategy consultations continue. World Bank. December, 2006. Comments accepted through January 27, 2006 on the Bank’s website. Country-level consultations are also being held.
Wolfowitz passing the hat for IDA. World Bank. December 8, 2006. The World Bank President is trying to calm critics and raise money for the next round of International Development Association replenishment.
World Bank questions its own impact on poverty. World Bank. December 8, 2006. A new report by the Bank's Independent Evaluation Group argues that Bank programs have failed to achieve sustained increases in per capita income. The report also notes that development programs cannot focus solely on growth; the distribution of wealth within countries and communities is also critical. Find out more:
European Investment Bank urges looser environmental and social standards for loans to Africa. EIB. December 7, 2006. Competition from Chinese lenders prompts EIB to consider removing "excessive" conditions placed on loans.
Hart Schafer tapped as Acting World Bank VP for Africa. World Bank December 5, 2006. World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz has reportedly appointed Hart Schafer, a German national and most recently the Director for Operations in the Africa Region, to take on the duties as Acting Vice President for the Africa Region at the Bank.
World Bank implicated in controversial DR Congo mining contracts. World Bank. November 22, 2006. An internal memo warns that the Bank may be complicit in the non-transparent awarding of mining contracts that are unfavorable to the country.
Global Transparency Initiative comments on European Bank for Reconstruction and Development draft Public Information Policy GTI. December 7, 2006. In the wake of an announcement from EBRD that it will review both its disclosure and environmental policies in 2007, the Global Transparency Initiative (GTI) makes comments on information requests and appeals systems of the Public Information Policy.
Internal Investigation Shows World Bank Water Project Destroys Livelihoods in Pakistan. IRN and ActionAid Pakistan. December 2006. The civil society groups request that the Bank pay reparations to address the grievances of the affected people, and that it stop financing large dam and canal projects in Pakistan
Civil society calls on Democratic Republic of Congo President to renegotiate disadvantageous mining contracts. RAID. December 6, 2006. World Bank yet to disclose audits of Democratic Republic of Congo's state-owned copper mining company.
Urgent concerns about Uganda dam go unanswered by World Bank. NAPE, IRN, BIC. December 6, 2006. An NGO letter to the World Bank details urgent concerns regarding the Bujagali hydropower project in Uganda, which is being fast-tracked for development early next year.
Mekong groups call for World Bank, ADB and other donors to stop promoting tree plantations. Mekong regional organizations. November, 2006. Groups also shared experiences and lessons learned on the issue of industrial tree plantations and their impacts on local peoples' livelihoods.
Kyrgyz activists protest debt initiative outside World Bank office in Bishkek. Various organizations. December 6, 2006. About 150 protesters protested their government’s decision to take on the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) - a World Bank and International Monetary Fund program to write off poor country debt – due to concerns over accompanying conditions that will promote privatization.
European Invesment Bank to launch public consultation on Review of Policy, Guidelines and Procedures on Fighting Corruption, Fraud, Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism. Process will begin in early 2007.
International Conference on Financing for Development 2008 in Doha.
The United Nation’s General Assembly has agreed to hold a conference to review the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus in Doha, Qatar in the second half of 2008.
After the dust settles: Singapore in retrospect. A summary of meetings, events, and statements related to the 2006 IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings. Bank Information Center. December, 2006.
Debt-Relief Countries Can Make Use of More Policy Space. Third World Network. December 1, 2006. Celine Tan discusses how the recent series of debt cancellations under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC-I) and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) may offer eligible countries opportunities for expanding domestic policy space, enabling countries to choose from various macroeconomic and development policy options. Read the article:
Kicking the Habit: How the World Bank and the IMF are still addicted to attaching economic policy conditions to aid. Oxfam International. Despite numerous commitments to reform, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are still using their aid to make developing countries implement inappropriate economic policies, with the tacit approval of rich-country governments. These economic policy conditions undermine national policy-making, delay aid flows, and often fail to deliver for poor people. If the world is to make poverty history, this practice must be stopped. Aid must be conditional on being spent transparently and on reducing poverty, and nothing more.
Grassroots Guide to the IMF and the World Bank. 50 Years is Enough. The Grassroots Guide offers an in-depth and easy to understand look at the international financial institutions and the global economic system they dominate.
Opportunities and Pitfalls: Preparing for Burma’s Economic Transition. OSI Burma Project/Southeast Asia Initiative, in cooperation with the Bank Information Center.
Gender Guide to World Bank and IMF Policy-Based Lending. Gender Action. December 2006. This new Guide highlights the gendered impacts of World Bank and International Monetary Fund policy-based loans.
Halifax Initiative produces map of destructive Canadian mining ventures. Halifax Initiative. December 23, 2006. The twenty-three projects featured on the map show wide temporal and geographic scope - demonstrating that the incidence of Canadian mining projects associated with significant adverse social and environmental problems is far more widespread than the mining industry would have you believe.
Accountability Resource Guide: Tools for Redressing Human Rights & Environmental Violations by International Financial Institutions, Export Credit Agencies & Private Corporate Actors. International Human Rights Council.
Citizens' Guide to European Complaint Mechanisms. CEE Bankwatch Network and other NGOs. The guide assists and stimulates individuals and NGOs, especially in the CEE region, to more often and more effectively use institutional mechanisms at the European and international level.
BIC is seeking a Middle East and North Africa Program Manager to assume overall responsibility for establishing a new BIC program in the region. Candidates should be proven activists, managers and fundraisers. The Program Manager will work closely with experienced BIC staff including in particular the Policy and Information Services Programs. Based in Washington, DC. Find out more: /en/Page.Jobs.aspx
BIC is seeking an Asia Program Manager who is a proven campaigner, manager, and fundraiser and can provide guidance and strategic direction to the Asia Program while actively collaborating with BIC’s Policy Program and other regional programs. BIC's Asia Program focuses on the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, and has a regional presence in South Asia and the Mekong. Based in Washington, DC. Find out more:
BIC Mekong office releases Scoping Report. The report will guide the organization's work in Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Vietnam, China, Laos and Indonesia. The Scoping Report analyzes the current political and economic situations in the region, and surveys the dynamics of civil society engagement with the banks. It also outlines BIC's plans for work in the region. In particular, the report aims to: ascertain the extent to which civil society organiations in Mekong/SE Asia; understand the role of multilateral development banks in shaping the national development agenda; and document the existing initiatives of Mekong/SE Asia civil society focused on monitoring the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. Read the report:
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